July 5, 2011

Well, today is my brother’s 61^st birthday. Happy birthday Bruce. OK, on to what happened over the long holiday weekend. Friday evening I get a call from John saying that Dave is sure my bike will fit in the back of his truck. The new plan is to meet them at the shop. I decide to go to Tractor Supply after work and buy a ramp so I head that way after making a stop at the house. On FM 2871, AKA Gun Club Road, I see a dude in a E-series van parking on the side of the road with a For Sale sign posted on the side. I should have stopped and asked... but didn't for some reason. I went on to TS. There I tried on a couple heavy cotton coveralls thinking I might be able to use them as “Speed Suits” for riding Bobbi. I chose the bigger of the two and headed to the back for ramps. I grabbed a folding set of ramps and headed to the register. They were much more expensive than I thought but I bought them anyway. I headed home via I-20 rather than driving by the van again... but I'm not sure why. Saturday morning I met John and Dave at the shop and setup the ramp to unload my bike. I flipped the kick starter out and began trying to start the thing. After a few failed attempts, I asked John for the key. It fired right up then... well, mostly. I took it for a spin around the buildings. I like it. Dave got to work on Barbecue Bob while John and I messed with Bobbi. We, mostly John... OK, totally John, fingered out the reason the brake light didn't work. It was wired backwards. The tail light was lighting the bright filament ad the brake was lighting the dim one. It worked but the brake couldn't overcome the tail light. John rewired it and now I've got brake and tail lights. Huzzah! Next we began trying to finger out the horn. I'm not going through all the machinations, suffices to say, the old horn didn't work. We tried wiring in a 12 volt horn from the Versa but it wouldn't even try to work. Eventually we gave up and parked the bike. Meanwhile, Dave is trying to get Barbecue Bob to run. It is definitely a fuel issue. We are not getting fuel from the pump to the carburetors. I'm not sure why but don't car at that point. Also meanwhile, John replaced the headlights on Ms. Clio for me. The new ones look so much better. He also resprayed the grille flat black while it was off. Once we were all done messing with stuff, we left. I took John and we went to look at a bike he’d seen on Cycle Trader. It seemed a bit too rough to me and I think I talked him out of it. From there we had lunch at El Cheapo... I mean El Chico. After lunch we went to look at a bike some dude he knows has. It was REALLY rough... but in the best way possible. It was intentionally rough. A Rat Bike, if you will. I loved it. I almost gave the guy the money then and there. But I think I acted cool. When we left I told John I liked it. I may not have expressed just how much I did, but I tried to steer him in that direction... sort of. I dropped him at his house and went home. Later that evening, John called to say, “Hang what everyone else thinks, I want the Gold Wing.” Oh, he also found a Gold Wing in Not Texas we were going to look at but piddled around at the shop too long. So, the new plan was to see if that guy would meet us Monday and he’d buy that bike. He also found me a “spare” “parts bike” we were going to go buy on Monday as well. I'm not sure what I did Sunday. Nothing important I'm sure. Oh, my Saiga parts did arrive and I installed them. The 12 gauge is friggin’ cool as shit now. I wound up putting the Dragunov style stock on the 7.62x39 and the collapsible one from the 7.62x39 on the 12 gauge. My reasons were manifold. One, the Dragunov stock make my 7.62x39 look like a mini Dragunov, duh. And b) that stock has a cheek rest which puts my head above the iron sights. I can't use them. I decided to reinstall the optics I had removed because they were too high above the cheek rest on the collapsible stock. Bada bing, now I'm up where they are usable! Sort of. The mount is still a tad too high. I went to Blood Bath & Beyond Sunday and bought a lower, quick-release mount for it. Now I can use the optics with my cheek on the Dragunov rest. Me rikee rots! I installed the collapsible stock and pistol grip on the 12 gauge because... well, what else am I going to do with it? Oh yeah, my Saigas are super badass now. Monday I goofed off all morning and finally left the house around 1500 h to go for a hoon. I didn't have any place specific in mind so I would up at Blood Bath & Beyond again. I wanted a different fore end grip for the 12 gauge but they didn't have it and the catalog guys were off for the Fourth. I bought another angled grip like the one I have on the 7.62x39 for it instead. I know I like that. Then I did the dumb thing. I started looking at pumps for possibly the dumbest reason put there: I already have a scabbard holster for one. Yeah, I know. I freely admit I'm dumb. I rejected the really expensive ones and was looking at the $319.00 Mossberg. The sales dude then showed me the $239.00 “Chevrolet” to the Mossberg’s $319.00 “Cadillac.” It was still made by Mossberg, but was a lower line model built here in Texas. It had a 20” barrel and the magazine tube extended the full length to hold seven rounds. I was smitten. I looked it over for a while and when he said, “I’ll go ahead and sell that one for $219.00,” I was hooked. I handed over my CHL and began filling out paperwork. I had the guy go ahead and install a pistol grip on it so it is a wee little shorty thing now. Yeah, I'm dumb, I know. I headed home and installed the slant grip on the Saiga and tried to finger out how I'm going to fit all these guns in my cabinet. I'm still working on that.